My Age Means Nothing
- Angela Cangialosi
- Nov 16, 2017
- 2 min read
I was reading through a coach group post on LinkedIn about getting clients because... I want some of those and I came across a coach that essentially said young coaches give the profession a bad name. I’m trying not to be mad about it as I type this but I can’t say that I didn’t want to jump in and directly reply to him about how much BS he was spitting.
I just don’t get it. It’s weird to me how people automatically put a blanket term over a group of people. As if because young people haven’t lived through as many years that means they’re “unqualified” and haven’t “experienced life”. I’m a fact and research kinda person so these sort of generalizations make me want to scream.
Just because I haven’t been breathing on this planet as long as someone else does not mean that they have experienced more than I have. There are a slew of older adults who’ve experienced less adversity than younger adults who have experienced things like homelessness, discrimination, sexual assault/harassment, mental illness.
Does that mean that a younger adult who’s faced more adversity is a better life coach? Nope. Because coaching requires LISTENING and SPEAKING at bare minimum. There’s also the coaching presence you bring to sessions but that’s the nitty gritty. Anyway, considering that coaches relate to their clients as the experts of their own lives, kind of invalidates the whole argument.
…
Something that I love about being young- that some older adults might be missing- is that I can be flexible in my views. I’m not set in my ways, I want to see multiple perspectives, I want to understand where other people are coming from and I truly love being curious. I love to constantly learn and change. As a coach it helps your clients shake mindsets that they’ve been stuck in. I can only speak for myself of course but maybe other young folks agree.
I know that there are so many young influencers out there and of course they have more to learn, who doesn’t? They still make an impact.
My age says literally nothing about the quality of the services that I provide people. Or maybe it does but it’s all just subjective, interpretation, and opinion.
Remember that when someone tries to tell you you’re too young to do/be/achieve (fill in the blank).
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